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Lake Leota 4th !
July 2 - July 5 in Evansville
Record crowds attended the recent four-day 4th of July
celebration in Evansville at Lake Leota park. The festival
started out Thursday night with the big Grand Re-opening of Lake
Leota that included moving speeches by Janis Ringhand, Mayor
Decker, Representative Tammy Baldwin, State Senator Jon
Erpenbach, and State Representative Brett Davis. Later at least
2,000 people gathered around the lake to listen to Rachelle &
the Red Hot Rattlers and watch the special fireworks
presentation on the lake by Kyle Allen and Mike Bollerud.
Friday continued with Evansville Youth Center hosting Youth Day
until 5 pm. The library hosted the annual Ice Cream Social, and
the city pool was open with music until 10 pm. The Evansville
Jays took on Utica with an opening patriotic ceremony featuring
our local color guard and Evansville Youth Center director, Dave
Javan singing our National Anthem. To cap off the night, Cold
Sweat & The Brew City Horns lit up in the festival tent with
smooth live music.
Saturday, July 4th, rushed in with plenty of runners in the Aunt
Leota Grove Chase followed by the parade, family activities at
the park, live music, and great food. The Lions Club presented
the grand finale with fireworks at dusk. Organizers were able to
count at least 4,000 people in the park to celebrate
Independence Day.
Sunday continued the feeling of community spirit with free
trolley tours of historic Evansville conducted by local
historian Ruth Ann Montgomery, an open house at the Baker
Building complete with guides in period costumes, a fabulous car
show, kids' games, a quilt show, Evansville Idol Karaoke and
softball tournaments.
The Evansville Idol Judges were Ellen Brown-Executive Director
of the Evansville Chamber of Commerce, Denise Paece - former
Evansville Idol Winner, and Diane Roberts - City Alderperson and
Bank of Evansville Representative. A 4th judge was brought in to
score contestant Larry Roberts. The 2009 Evansville Idol winner
is Al Harris with his rendition of "What A Wonderful World."
Larry Roberts was runner up and Oscar Oscarson placed close
behind. All the contestants were so good the scoring sheets were
very difficult to calculate. The judges suggest expanding
categories and winners since the decisions were so difficult.
Here are some fun tidbits about the 2009 "Celebrate A Lake Leota
4th of July" Festival:
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Over 250 people visited the Grove Society's Baker
Building open house on Sunday. The Baker Building Museum Grand
Opening is set for October 4, 2009.
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At least 200 local volunteers came out to run the
four-day event totaling at least 7,200 volunteer hours given back to
the community.
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Over 80 quilted articles beautified the Eager
Economy Building on Sunday afternoon. It was a favorite trolley stop
for many!
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The Trolley was full for all five tours! Discover
Wisconsin film crew rode along, too!
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Magnolia 4H, 1st Wisconsin Young Marines, Cub Scout
Pack 514, and Klondike Farms were winners for their floats in the
parade.
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The 4th annual car show brought in over 100 machines
to the lower ball diamond. Participants received door prizes, dash
plaques and trophies for the winners in each class.
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It took over 55 local businesses, donating cash,
goods, and/or services to fund the event.
The car show attendees were treated to a couple of rare
amphibious "Amphicar" vehicles on Sunday. The owners, Tom and
Cindy Jones and Bob and Nancy Carlson from Madison, drove
them into Lake Leota before departing and found no problem
entering or navigating the lake.
 The
Carlsons' car was a perfectly restored example, while the Jones'
car is modified, including a large pair of tailfins 1958
Chrysler grafted to the rear! Pictures can be found at
www.amphicar.com/finzilla.htm, This show was only the second
time this car has been in the water since the restoration work
was done, and Tom said it did just great, no water leaks at all.
Local resident, Dan Gillitzer, had the idea in the spring when
the lake was starting to refill that it would be neat to have
some Amphicars at the car show, if the city would allow it.
After a few emails between Janis Ringhand from the Parks Board
and Tom Calley, 4th of July committee chairperson, it was
decided that the Amphicars would be allowed to enter the lake.
Although Dan has no affiliation with the car show organizers, he
decided to contact The International Amphicar Owner's Club and
let them know about the car show and the offer to "go for a
swim," as they call it.
Amphicars were produced in Germany from 1961 to 1967. Fewer than
4,000 were made, but over 3,000 came to the US. They are made of
steel, not fiberglass, and have an electric sump pump to handle
any leaking water. Although German, they are powered by a
Triumph (British) automobile engine. On the water they have a
top speed of 7 mph and on land 70 mph, thus the model number is
"770". Two nylon propellers can be seen under the hull-shaped
underbody. The "car" has 4 forward speeds plus reverse, while in
the water, the "boat" has both forward and reverse drive of the
propellers. The front wheels act as rudders when in the water,
so they are not all that maneuverable. One Amphicar owners is
quoted as saying "It's not a good car and it's not a good boat,
but it does just fine."
This year's celebration would not have been possible without
the gracious contributions of many Evansville businesses,
organizations, and individuals. A listing of corporate and
event sponsors is given below. Our thanks to each and
everyone for their generosity!
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